Thank You, Gumball
by Red Marks
Summary: (A Gumball X Clare Cooper story) Clare just went through a tough breakup with Jared. Days later, she opens her locker to face haunted memories of him. Not wanting to be reminded of her mistake, she tears down everything and cleans up her locker of any evidence of her ex-boyfriend. She assumes she was all alone, until she heard footsteps across the hallway.


24…

5…

19.

The three-number combination to Clare's locker.

As she pulls the lever down to a locker door filled with pictures of ex-boyfriend Jared, mainly focusing on one photo of them sitting on the school's grass field with head resting on his shoulders, smiling back at the camera, hatred began to arise. In one swift motion, she rips every photo down with her forearm, picking up the ones that fell and putting them in a grocery bag.

Clare and Jared broke up Saturday. By text. The worse way to break the news to someone you don't want to be with.

That day… Clare remembers waking up to her phone's notification as it buzzed beneath her pillow. As she lifts her head from her pillow, followed by a trail of saliva, she unlocked her phone to the dreaded message:

_**Hey Clare, you awake?**_

Halfway through getting rid of a dozen photos, she stops midway and feels tears coming. She takes deep breaths as she tries to calm down.

_**Yeah, whats wrong?**_

_**I'm sorry Clare, but this isn't working out. I just think it's best we remain friends :(**_

It angers her that he added a sad emoticon after that text message. Like this some kind of joke. She didn't respond to him back with another text. No, she instead called Jared seven times, all of which, were rejected.

Giving up on the seventh call, she finally decides to respond to him by text.

_**seriously jared?! awnser the phone!**_

_**Please don't be mad at me… I just only see us being good friends, nothing more.**_

She tried calling Jared again.

No answer.

The more photos she has taken down, the harder it was to hold back the tears. How can he just text her out of nowhere, telling her that everything they were before didn't felt special to him?!

She remembers leaving the house and headed to Jared's at 6:37 in the morning before the sun can even rise from the horizon. Angered, saddened, and cold. All at the same time.

The walk lasted about twelve minutes before reaching to his tan-colored house and blue-painted porch. No light inside the house was on, but the porch-light illuminated the whole front of the house.

She at first banged her fist onto the screen door, waiting for someone to open the door. Hopefully, Jared.

A few seconds later and the house door opened, but the view of the person was covered by the screen door.

"Clare, please don-"

It's him.

"**Jared, open the door now!**" Clare shouted, interrupting Jared's pleads.

See no use in calming her down, Jared open the screen door and gave Clare an apologetic look. To which, didn't seem to faze her as she pulled her hand back and smacked him across the face.

Cupping his cheek, Jared was now frightened.

"**How about you grow a pair and call me instead of texting me, bastard!" **Clare was now in a fit of rage, as tears began spewing down left and right, pointing at him as he tries to reach for the screen door.

Clare notices this and grabs hold onto the side of it, pulling back and slamming it shut in front of him, to which he responded by closing the house door softly.

Ever since that day, the two went ghost, never contacting each other ever again. No point in it, what's done is done.

Clare is now sitting on the hard cold checkerboard flooring, hugging her knees towards her chest. Crying? No, but her body is fighting back from letting them go off.

As she remains on the floor, taking deep breaths, footsteps can be heard over at the distance by her right side.

Adrenaline flows through her whole body as she is now in fear of being caught in this type of position. Reacting fast, she pushed herself up and face back towards her locker, returning to the mess of photos scattered everywhere near her locker.

Pictures such as the time when Jared's mother snapped a photo of the two cuddling on the couch, unaware.

Or when they decided to shop together at the mall and she took a photo of him in one of the mall's wishing well.

Or when he gifted Clare a 4x4 picture of him during the New Years Celebration as he is seen wearing a top hat and swimming goggles, smiling cheerfully on camera.

All of those, being bundled up and stuff inside a white plastic bag, to be forgotten.

The footsteps were becoming more audible than before.

Clare turned her head back to see it was no other than Gumball Watterson.

"OH! Hey Clare. What are you doing here alone? Class started thirty minutes ago."

Clare quickly threw the plastic bag back into her locker and brought her full attention to Gumball, who seemed to have been running earlier, as droplets of sweat painted his entire forehead.

He also had both of his hands on the straps of his camel-colored backpack, something that he should've packed inside of his locker thirty-minutes ago.

Clare gave Gumball a soft smile. "I'm guessing you're also running late to class?" She jokingly responded.

All that did was make Gumball blush. Hard. Trying to hide his embarrassment by looking down and turning his head away for a few seconds.

Like always with her.

"I-I kinda stayed up a little late and was on ElmorePlus until I knocked out. I guessed I overslept because when I woke up, nobody was home…" Gumball stopped his story midway as he was trying to wipe off the sweat from his forehead and the sides of his eyes as the sweat soon trailed down to his eyebrows.

"...So I got changed and ran all the way down here, trying to avoid getting detention from Miss. Simian again. But judging by how almost empty the hallway was, I guess I was too late."

Gumball looked down and noticed a couple of Jared's photos scattered all over the floor. One had a corner ripped off while another one was crumpled up into a ball.

Hiding behind Clare's thigh was the plastic bag she desperately tried to hide. Some of the photos were bundled up or had their back turned away from view, but some did manage to bleed through the white plastic and stare at Gumball.

If that didn't give it away, the bundle of photos forming into a hill out in the opening did.

'_Oh man…'_ Gumball thought. He came at a really bad time.

Clare remained silent. She knew Gumball would connect the pieces and realize that her and Jared broke-up. She was hoping no one would find out.

And out of everyone who found first, it had to be Gumball.

"Uh… Making more room for newer photos with… Jared?" Gumball responded, hoping that what the situation looked like was just a misunderstanding.

Clare looked down and away from Gumball once he mentions that, dirtbags, name. "No, Jared and I broke up Saturday… I'm just cleaning my locker out."

_Jared and I broke up_

'_Aw man..'_

Gumball's ears fell back in response to his stupidity and embarrassment. Wasn't it obvious from the first sight?

He really shat the bed on this one. Hard.

"OH! I-I didn-"

"It's cool, Gumball! Just please don't be loud! No one else knows and I'm trying to make sure it stays like that. I'm trying to avoid gossip about us." Clare said, turning her back towards Gumball and grabbing the plastic bag.

Gumball dropped his backpack to the side and taken a step closer to Clare. "Do you need any help cleaning?"

Silence filled the hallway for a couple of seconds, it worried Gumball, as he was afraid he pissed off Clare. He began to think that maybe she wants to be left alone with this.

Feeling awkward with the silence, Gumball assumed she wanted to be left alone and picked up his backpack.

After having the left strap of the backpack on, he then heard sniffling.

Gumball turned to look at Clare and noticed her on all fours on the floor, using her sleeves to wipe away her tears and snot. She was crying.

"Clare…?"

"How can he just dump me like that? He didn't even bother to break-up to me face-to-face, or even bother to fucking call… He just texted me, like as if all I was to him was just his playtoy…"

Clare turned around and was now sitting on the floor, facing Gumball.

"Did I mean nothing to him?! I poured my heart out to him when I thought I had to move to Detroit! I told him how much he meant to me, how I would try to call him every day to as- Oh what do I know! He would've just ignored my messages and went on with some other skank!"

As Clare continued to pour her heart out, Gumball went by Clare's side and site right next to her, lending his ear to her. As she continues to vent, tears began to trail across her cheeks.

Seeing Clare like this, in a heartbroken stated…

_It hurts..._

Gumball thought. He started to feel discomfort. He wanted her to stop crying. He… He missed seeing her smile… Days after she found out she was staying here in Elmore, he noticed how she smiles, how cute her laugh was…

"I hate myself falling in love for that idiot… "

When Clare giggled at him earlier, his whole body flared up. He always felt nervous being around her, always trying to not look like an idiot he usually is.

All of which he ultimately fails at. Because he's... well… Gumball.

Then again, being in love with can make you feel like that.

"*laughs* I'm an idiot for being with him…"

Lucky for him, Clare always did find him kinda cute when he acts like a total jackass. She gets a good laugh at it from his stupidity. From him babbling nonsense, setting the school's pool on fire by dumping liquid nitrogen in it, always blushing for no reason when she was around him...

But there are other days when she loves spending time with the feline. Don't get her wrong, she loves being with him on his 'adventurous' side, but on the days when he isn't feeling adventurous, and feeling confident about anything, she gets lost in his stories he tells to her and feels calm being around him. Being around him, lights up her whole world!

If it wasn't for her commitment to Jared, maybe they would've been closer?

She does have a small crush Gumball.

After she finished her little rant about the shitbag who shall not be named, the duo went silent for a while. Gumball wasn't the kind of person to be supportive. Hell, he has absolutely no fucking clue on how to comfort a girl, nor is he smart with his mouth.

But Gumball knows one thing, a lot of people who pour their heart out to someone doesn't need to hear the other person's opinion about their situation.

All they need is someone to listen.

And for Clare's situation, that was enough.

Using her sleeves once to wipe away the tears from her cheeks, she looks at Gumball for the first time in what seems like forever, and gave him a very weak, and weary, smile.

"I'm sorry… I didn't mean to drag you into my problems like this… You pr-"

"No! It's cool, Clare. I'm happy to be around if you need someone to talk to." Gumball responded by having his hands up, trying to reassure her that he was more than happy to try to make her feel better.

That's why he stayed and listen.

"I-If you ever need someone to talk to… I-I'm always around… I hate seeing you like this, Clare."

Clare continues to smile at the nervous feline as she continues to wipe her tears away, she forgets how much a softy he can be sometimes.

_I hate seeing you like this, Clare_

Suddenly, Clare wraps her arms around Gumball and hugs the cat tightly, burying her face into his shoulder and nuzzles on his neck. Why does he have to be such a lovable idiot…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the hug, Gumball was absolutely losing his shit. Having Clare hugging him for the first time made his heart pumped. It wouldn't have been so bad if Clare didn't try nuzzling his neck like a cat.

It made it worse that he's purring in response to this gesture.

Clare couldn't help but laugh cheerfully at that. Never, has she ever heard Gumball purr! Even when Gumball talks about hugging his family, he always brags that he can't purr like normal cats. She assumed he had different traits from his domestic counterparts. Making this discovery made her heart content.

Clare soon eased at the hug and pull back to face Gumball, leaving her arms still being wrapped around feline. Her smile stretched big and wide. "Oh my god, Gumball! I thought you said you don't purr!" She laughed in between.

His entire head was red with embarrassment. "**I-I-I-I don't normally! I swear that was the first time I ever did! I wasn't lying w-w-w-when I said I don't!" **Gumball loudly spoke, trying to defend himself.

Clare couldn't help but laugh loudly at this, he's blushing madly once again, like he always does!

She loves this about him.

She continues to laugh for a good minute, leaving Gumball in absolute agony as he refuses to say anything else.

Her laughs soon begins to die down and nows stares Gumball directly at his eyes. Gumball entire body was now pumped, feeling the same heat his cheeks felt earlier. Her dark pupils starting directly at him, smiling at him softly.

His whole body frozen in fear as she leaned in closer to him. Was she…

She stopped halfway and quietly chuckled at him, her eyes closing in correlation to her giggles.

Her eyes snapped open and finally opened her mouth to speak. "Well, since we're already late for class, why don't you and I ditch first-period and head out to Joyful Burger?"

Gumball was caught by surprised at this. "Y-You wanna ditch class?"

"Why not? We're already in trouble! I didn't really get to eat anything for breakfast this morning and I'm in the mood for some chocolate milkshakes!"

All Gumball could do was smile with glee at the invitation. "Sure! Burgers do sound nice right now!"

Clare was the first to get up from the floor and offered Gumball a hand, which he accepted and lifted himself up with her help.

However, once he was on his feet, they never let go of each other's grasp.

Instead, they reposition it to where both they're finger interlock with each other.

Clare blushed madly, feeling absolute warmth in her heart. The same feeling she had when she thought she was in love with Jared.

Except this time, it felt genuine.

Gumball, once again, internally losing his shit.

They both walked down the hallway hand in hand, enjoying each other's company throughout the remainder of the entire day. Where once they arrived at the burger joint, Gumball would continue rambling on his stories about his adventures with his family and friends, and with Clare, enjoying every minute with the goofball.

Back at school, Clare's locker that was once empty of lost memories, would soon be filled with new memories of her and Gumball.

With a photo of their first kiss standing out above the rest.


End file.
